A hard-rocking Christian music band that also topped the secular charts will headline a four-band rock festival at Musikfest’s main stage, it was just announced.

Skillet, whose 2009 album “Awake” debuted at No.2 on Billboard’s albums chart and went platinum with the Top 5 platinum rock hit “Monster,” will play the main SteelStage in a show starting at 5 p.m. Aug. 4.

Skillet

Also on the bill will be Thousand Foot Krutch, whose 2012 album, “The End Is Where We Begin,” topped Billboard’s Christian and hit No. 3 on the Hard Rock chart; Decyfer Down, whose hits include “Desperate” and “Ride with Me”; and We As Human, whose song “Strike Back” is now at No. 17 on the Christian rock charts.

Tickets, at $29 and $39, will go on sale to ArtsQuest members at 10 a.m. April 30 and to the public at 10 a.m. May 3 at www.musikfest.org or by calling 610-332-3378.

In all, Skillet has had eight songs that have hit the Top 40 on the general rock charts, including three that have hit the Top 10 and gone gold or platinum: “Monster” and “Awake and Alive” and “Hero,” both in 2010. On the Christian rock chart, 32 of its songs have gone Top 10, with 15 hitting No. 1.

In addition to “Awake,” its previous album, 2006’s “Comatose,” also went gold. Both albums were nominated for Grammy Awards. It is set to release a new disc, “Rise,” on June 25.

Skillet topped a four-band line-up for a show at Stabler Arena in 2010. They were supposed to headline the SonLight Christian Music Festival at Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom in 2009 with Decyfer Down, but it was canceled.

Thousand Foot Krutch had its last four albums hit Top 2 on the Christian charts, with “The End Is Where We Begin” hitting No. 1. Its had seven Top 40 rock hits, with 2004’s “Rawkfist” hitting the Top 15. On the Christian charts, it’s had 16 Top 10 hits, with nine hitting No. 1 – including its last four: “E For Extinction,” “Shook,” “War of Change” and “Let the Sparks Fly.”

The band headlined Allentown’s Crocodile Rock Café in February.

Decyfer Down’s latest album, 2009’s “Crash,” hot Top 10 on Billboard’s Rock chart and No.3 on the Christian chart. The Top 3 Christian “Ride With Me” and the No. 1 “Desperate” were both from that disc. It also is expected to release a new album this spring.

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JOHN J. MOSER has been around long enough to have seen the original Ramones in a small club in New Jersey, U2 from the fourth row of a theater and Bob Dylan's born-again tours. But he also has the number for All-American Rejects' Nick Wheeler on his cell phone, wrote the first story ever done on Jack's Mannequin and hung out in Wiz Khalifa's hotel room.

OTHER CONTRIBUTORS

JODI DUCKETT: As The Morning Call's assistant features editor responsible for entertainment, she spends a lot of time surveying the music landscape and sizing up the Valley's festivals and club scene. She's no expert, but enjoys it all — especially artists who resonated in her younger years, such as Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, Tracy Chapman, Santana and Joni Mitchell.

KATHY LAUER-WILLIAMS enjoys all types of music, from roots rock and folk to classical and opera. Music has been a constant backdrop to her life since she first sat on the steps listening to her mother’s Broadway LPs when she was 2. Since becoming a mother herself, she has become well-versed on the growing genre of kindie rock and, with her son in tow, can boast she has seen a majority of the current kid’s performers from Dan Zanes to They Might Be Giants.

STEPHANIE SIGAFOOS: A Jersey native raised in Northeast PA, she was reared in a house littered with 8-tracks, 45s and cassette tapes of The Beatles, Elvis, Meatloaf and Billy Joel. She also grew up on the sounds of Reba McEntire, Garth Brooks and Tim McGraw and can be found traversing the countryside in search of the sounds of a steel guitar. A fan of today's 'new country,' she digs mainstream/country-pop crossovers like Lady Antebellum and Sugarland and other artists that illustrate the genre's diversity.